Eight-day nickel alarm-clock.



F. X. WEHRLE. EIGHT DAY NICKEL ALARM CLOCK.

APPLICATION FILED I'EB.21, 1914.

Patented Feb. 16, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

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EIGHT DAY NICKEL ALARM CLOCK.

APPLICATION FILED 11:12.21, 1914.

1,128,738. Patented Feb. 16, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANK X. WEHRLE, OF TI-IOMASTON, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO SETH THOMAS CLOCK 00., OF TI-IOMASTON, CONNECTICUT, A CORPORATION.

EIGHT-DAY NICKEL ALARM-CLOCK.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 16, 1915.

Application filed February 21, 1914. Serial No. 820,137.

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK X. WEHRLE, a subject of the Emperor of Germany, residing at Thomaston, in the county of Litchfield and State of Connecticut, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Eight- Day Nickel Alarm-Clocks; and I do hereby declare the following, when taken in connec tion with the accompanying drawings and the characters of reference marked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, and which said drawings constitute part of this application, and represent, in

Figure 1 a view in front elevation of an alarm clock constructed in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 a detached view in front elevation of the movement with the parts positioned for sounding the alarm. Fig. 3 a side view of the same, omitting the parts not directly connected with the present invention. Fig. 4 a plan view of the movement with the parts in the same position. Fig. 5 a view of the movement in front elevation showing the co-action of the alarm-stop lever with the alarm let-off spring and the locking-arm of the alarmtrain. Fig. 6 a corresponding view with the alarm-stop lever in its alarm-sounding position and the alarm let-off spring engaged with the locking-arm to prevent the alarm from sounding. Fig. 7 a plan view showing the parts positioned as in Fig. 6. Fig. 8 a detached perspective view of the alarm-stop lever. Fig. 9 a detached perspective view of the alarm let-off spring.

My invention relates to an improvement in that class of eight-day alarm clocks in which the sounding of the alarm must be manually stopped, the object being to produce a simple and reliable alarm clock of the character described in which the alarm mechanism will be automatically reset by the time-mechanism after the sounding of the alarm has been manually stopped.

With these ends in view, my invention consists in an alarm clock having certain details of construction and combinations of parts as will be hereinafter described and pointed out in the claims.

In carrying out my invention, I locate an alarm-stop sustaining member in the form of a tooth 2 upon the upper end of a flat sheet-metal alarm let-01f spring 3 otherwise of ordinary construction, and secured by a rivet 4 passing through its lower end, to the front face of the front movement-plate 5, the said tooth 2 extending forwardly and having a straight upper edge and an inclined or beveled forward edge. As shown the tooth 2 is integral with the lever 3 but this is not essential, nor is it necessary that it should have the particular form shown, though it must be shaped to crowd the spring 3 inward as will appear later on. The said tooth co-acts with a stop-finger 6 arranged substantially at a right angle to it and bent forward at a right angle from the lower edge of the inner arm 7 of an alarm-stop lever 8 hung upon a stud 9 in the plate 5. The outer arm 10 of the said lever 8 has its outer end bent forward to form an operating-finger 11 which extends through a clearance-slot 12 in the front of the clockcase 13. A stop-pin 14 mounted in the said lever projects inward through a hole 15 in the plate 5 and is engaged by the outer end of a flat spring 16 secured to the inner face of the said plate and exerting a constant effort to swing the said lever 8 into its depressed position in which it is in readiness for its manual operation and in which its finger 6 takes a position just below the lower end of the tooth 2 upon the let-off spring 3. The engagement of the said pin 14 with the lower wall of the hole 15 limits the downward movement of the lever 8 and stops the said finger 6 under the tooth 2.

The upper end of the let-oft spring 3 is formed in the usual manner with an inwardly bent let-off finger 17 which extends inward at a right angle through a clearance cut 20 in the movement-plate 5 into the vertical plane in which the locking-arm 21 vibrates, this arm being mounted in the usual manner in a verge-arbor 22 carrying a verge or pallet 28 co-acting with an escapementwheel 24 mounted upon an escapementarbor 25 which carries a pinion 26 into which the second wheel (not shown) of the alarm-train meshes. The outer end of the locking arm 21 is bent forward at a right angle to form a locking-finger 27 which coacts with the upper edge 28 of the inner arm 7 of the stop-lever 8, the said edge 28 being formed toward its inner end with a clearance-notch 29 to permit the free vibration of the arm 27 when the stop-lever 8 is in its depressed or alarm-sounding position as shown in Fig. 1. The said let-01f spring 3 is crowded laterally inward in the usual manner by a sleeve 30 concentric with the alarm-cam wheel 31 and projecting inward from the inner face thereof, the said sleeve and wheel turning loosely upon the projecting forward end of the alarm-setting staff 32 the rear end of which projects through the rear movement-plate 33 and is furnished as usual with a knurled button 34 by means of which the staff 32 is turned in one direction or the other for setting the alarm to go off at any predetermined time. The wheel 31 meshes into and is driven by a pinion 35 carried by an hour-wheel 36 meshing into a dial-pinion 37 carried by a dialwheel 38 meshed into and driven by a minute-pinion 39 in the usual manner. The alarm-cam Wheel 31 is furnished upon its outer face with a concentric alarm-cam 40 co-acting with the lug 41 of a collar 42 fixed upon the forward end of the staff 32. The alarm-cam wheel 31 rotates the cam 40 once in twenty-four hours during which the cam gradually crowds the let-off spring 3 laterally inward. At the expiration of this twenty-four hour period, the drop of the cam is brought into registration with the lug 41 at which moment the resiliency of the spring 3 asserts itself and causes the spring to move laterally outward from rear to front, whereby its let-01f finger 17 is cleared from the path in which the locking-arm 21 vibrates, permitting the alarm to sound by the running of the alarm-train which is thus freed from control.

I also provide an alarm-shut ofl lever 43 hung upon a stud 44 in the movement-plate 5, and having its inner arm 45 turned inward at a right angle to extend through an opening 46 in the front movement-plate 5 and under the locking-arm 21. The outer arm 47 of the alarm-shut off lever 43 projects beyond the edge of the movementplates 5 and 33 and is bent forward at a right angle to form an operating-finger 48 which projects through a segmental slot 49 in the clock-case 13. To shut-off or cut-out the alarm altogether, the lever 43 is swung from left to right by its finger 48, whereby 50 its inner arm 45 lifts against the arm 21 and raises the same into its alarm cut-out position in which it blocks the running of the alarm train.

Having now described the mechanism of my improvedclock, I will proceed to set forth the operation thereof.

When, in the running of the clock, the turning of the alarm-cam wheel 31 by the time-movement, carries the drop of the alarm-cam 40 over the lug 41, the resiliency of the let-ofi spring 3 asserts itself, causing the spring to move laterally forward and retract its let-ofi finger 17 from the path of the locking-arm'2'l. At this time, the alarm- 6 stop lever 18 is in its depressed or alarmsounding position in which it is held by its spring 16 and which it assumed several hours before consequent upon its automatic release by th crowding inward of the let-ofi' spring 3 by the alarm-cam 40 during the first few hours succeeding the sounding of the last preceding alarm. The alarm-train having thus been released and the lever 8 being in its alarm-sounding position, the alarm will be sounded and will continue to sound until the alarm-stop lever 8 is manually operated and swung into its elevated or alarm-shut off position in which it is shown in Fig. 5. As the said lever is manually swung into its elevated position the inner edge of its stop-finger 6 rides over the beveled forward edge of the tooth 2, crowding the let-oil spring 3 inward until the said finger 6 passes above the upper edge of the said tooth 2 immediately after which the said spring 3 will spring forward and move the horizontal upper edge of the tooth 2 under the finger 6 which is then supported upon the tooth which then discharges its alarm-stop sustaining function by holdin the lever 8 in its elevated or alarm-shut 0 position against the tension of the spring 16.

As the alarm-stop lever 8 is manually swung from right to left, the upper edge 28 of its arm 7 is lifted against the finger 27 of the locking-arm 21, the vibration of which is thus arrested so as to stop the sounding of the alarm. The alarm-stop lever 8 is now sustained in its elevated or alarm-stopping position for the next few hours by the bear- 1 ing or support as described, of its finger 6 upon the upper edge of the tooth 2 from which it will be automatically released and the lever 8 allowed to return to its retired position by the gradual crowding inward of the let-off spring 3 by the'alarm-cam 40 during the first few hours following the sounding of the alarm. While the tooth 2 is being carried inward to automatically release the lever 8, the let-off finger 17 is being carried inward at the same speed and by the same agency, 2'. 6., by the action of the alarmcam 40 upon the spring 3. The parts are proportioned and arranged so that before the lever 8 has been released by the tooth 2, the finger 17 has been moved into the path I of the locking-arm and stands in readiness to assume the burden of holding the same against vibration the instant the lever 8 is dropped by the tooth 2. shifting of the holding of the arm 21 against vibration from the edge 28 of the arm 7 of the lever 8 to the finger 17 of the let-ofi spring 3, and during the remainder of the twenty-four hours, the parts will occupythe 5 positions shown in Fig. 6. At the termlnation of the twenty-four hours, the cycle above described will be repeated; that is to say, the let-off spring 3 will be released by the action of the alarm-cam 40 and spring Following the 2F forward so as to retract its finger 17 from the path of the arm 21, after which the alarm will be sounded until the alarm stoplever 8 is again manually operated to bring the parts into the positions shown in Fig. 5. It will thus be seen that under my invention the alarm is automatically reset after being manually shut ofi'.

I claim 1. In an automatically reset alarm clock, the combination with the timeand alarmtrains thereof, of an alarm let-off spring released once in twentyfour hours by the time-train, a vibrating locking-arm released and engaged by the said spring and controlling the alarm-train, a manually operable alarm-stop lever co-acting with the said locking-arm, and means carried by the said let-ofi spring and co-acting with the said alarm-stop lever for sustaining the same in its alarm-stopping position after it has been manually operated to shut off the alarm, the said alarm-stop lever being automatically released by the let-ofi spring the action of which is controlled by the time-train.

2. In an automatically reset alarm clock, the combination with the timeand alarmtrains thereof, of an alarm let-off spring released once in twenty-four hours by the timetrain and provided with a let-ofi' finger and a beveled tooth, a vibrating locking-arm co-acting with the said finger and controlling the alarm-train, and a manually operable spring-actuated alarm-stop finger arranged in position to co-act with the said lockingarm and tooth.

3. In an automatically reset alarm clock, the combination with the timeand alarmtrains thereof, of an alarm let-ofi? spring released once in twenty-four hours by the action of the said time-train, manually operable means for stopping the alarm-train, and a member located below and co-acting directly with the said manually operable means which it temporarily supports, the said member being automatically operated once in twentyfour hours in unison with the said let-off spring by the time-train of the clock and releasing the said means by being moved from under the same at the termination of the twenty-four hour period.

In testimony whereof, I have signed this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

FRANK X. WEHRLE. W'itnesses:

WM. A. ARMOUR, LENA M. STUMPF.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G. 

